


First Snowflake

by KrisEleven



Series: Mithros Bless Us, Every One [4]
Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Student of Ostriches
Genre: Canon Compliant, Forum: Goldenlake, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-29
Updated: 2012-12-29
Packaged: 2017-11-22 21:54:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/614758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrisEleven/pseuds/KrisEleven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Shang Falcon and his new student are on the road north to Maren. She has never before left the hot southern deserts. He has, unknowingly, failed at convincing her snow is real.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Snowflake

**Author's Note:**

> This one is based off of Pierce's short story Student of Ostriches, although these characters are mentioned briefly in one of the SotL books, as well. Written for the Advent Challenge for the prompt 'the first snowflake'!

* * *

For the first time since they had passed through Carthak during its monsoon season, Joesh Valany had decided to seek out an inn for the night. It wasn't that he had anything against inns, as a rule – they afforded an opportunity to meet new people and some of the best rumours could be found over a mug of their ale or ciders – but staying out on the road was easier; with Kylaia just beginning her training as a Shang, a decade later than was normal, he had a lot to teach her before they reached the Shang temple in Maren. She was naturally gifted in a way Valany had never seen before, and her training was going swiftly, but that didn't mean the thirteen year old couldn't sometimes get overwhelmed as her life changed around her. One look at the sky, and Valany knew that his student was about to get another first in her experiences outside her southern village, and she might very well appreciate being inside for this one.

Glancing back at her, he almost laughed. Her dark eyes were all he could see through her layers of clothes. It wasn't really that cold – Valany still had his jacket open, his handwraps and hat tucked into his pack – but Kylaia had never been out of the deep southern deserts, where the heat stayed steady somewhere above boiling for most of the year, and even the summer rains didn't really dissipate it. She had never experienced a cold day, and this was shaping up to be one of the first of the winter season.

"We should be coming up on the town of Foundling Row," he called over his shoulder to his student, "if my memory of this part of Tyra serves me correctly –"

"No assurances, then," his student replied in accented but functional Common. He threw an unimpressed glare, but couldn't be sure if it had quelled her, since her face was completely obscured by hood and scarf. He considered muttering about how sarcasm had not been part of her language lessons, but decided it would only encourage her. Kylaia's quick wit was hard to keep up with, sometimes, and he felt the need to keep hold of some of the prestige he still held as her Shang teacher as long as possible.

" _If_ my memory serves me correctly – which it _will_ –" he couldn't resist adding, "then we will have some rooms for the night, before the snow comes."

Kylaia made a noise halfway between amused and exasperated, and all the way into disbelieving. "Right, your _snow_."

Valany caught the meaning immediately, and couldn't help but grin, without turning to allow her to see it. He wasn't what anyone would describe as mischievous, and hadn't entertained the notion that some of the things he described to his student would be dismissed as being too outlandish to be believed, until now. Thinking back, he seems to recall the story in which he'd first mentioned snow did involve the Wildcat, her student and a handful of Scanran smugglers in a rather elaborate downhill chase, so he couldn't really blame her. Looking at the sky again, Valany was fairly sure they would get a sizable amount of snow overnight, and the childish side of him was tempted to simply allow her to wake up to it in the morning, just for the entertainment he was going to get out of her surprise.

He just managed to rein in his unexpectedly immature impulses and turned to begin teaching her about some of the weather she should expect this far north, keeping his expression as serious as possible.

A single snowflake fell between them, drifting through the air in a spiral before it landed on Kylaia's nose.

She was cross-eyed, staring at it. Valany doubled over, silent for a long moment before he could catch his breath enough to laugh.


End file.
